Kitchen Knife Guide

What is the key to making restaurant quality meals at home? Restaurant quality utensils, cookware and ingredients.

Kitchen Knife Guide includes how to pick the correct knife for the job, take proper care to ensure longevity and practice knife safety.

Any great chef will tell you that their knives are an extension of their arm and even travel with their own set. Home chefs should also own a good set of knives, but past that know which knife to use for each job. A mechanic wouldn’t try to fix a car with a paint brush, would he?

Here is a quick guide to your knife block that will help you pick the best tool for the job!

Sign-up Free Email Updates and Receive a Free E-Cookbook!

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating

Comment

Name *

Email *

Website

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

What type of comment do you have?

Reviews

Questions

Comments

Richard Sherratt wrote:

Thanks for the information, Jessica. I originally came here looking for information about bowls for mixing and keeping acidic salads e.g. kidney bean, tomato, onion and vinegar. I found what I was looking for, Thank you.
I noticed your Kitchen Knife Guide at the bottom of the page and clicked in. I’ve discovered a few things about knives over the years by making mistakes, so I was interested to see what you had to say. Good stuff.
Knives that are sharp enough for home cooking do not have to be expensive. If you’re doing food prep in a professional kitchen, then you’ll need a knife that’s extra sharp and which can keep its edge for a long time. I bought a paring knife in a supermarket for about $10 while on a road trip about 4 years ago. (The apartment we rented only had blunt knives.) It’s still sharp enough for slicing tomatoes. I’ve looked after it and haven’t abused it.
The main thing is not to abuse the knives: wash them carefully and dry them by hand. Keep them in a safe knife block or in an individual sheaf. Do not toss them into a drawer. Don’t use a knife-sharpening tool or a diamond encrusted “steel”. Just tickle-up the edge with a ceramic “steel”.
Sharpening is a skill. If it’s not your thing, you can get it done professionally. It might be cheaper to buy a new knife.
If you want to spend more money on a knife, don’t automatically go to popular brands and stores. Do some research about the sharpest, sexiest knives on the planet that cost well over $1,000. After you’ve done some dreaming, check out what the apprentice chefs use. They don’t have a lot of money, but they need sharp knives.

This is such great info! I definitely did not know all of that, and have not been using my knives correctly! We got a fancy knife from a friend last year and it is so amazing compared to the ones we got for our wedding. This makes me want to get new knives!

This is so true! I never realized the difference when I was a poor college student, but as soon as I got a new set of knives, I couldn’t believe the difference. This is a really beautiful set too. Makes cooking so much more fun!